Osceola meat market has new owners They're keeping the business in the family

May 26, 2006|YONIKA WILLIS Tribune Staff Writer

OSCEOLA -- DC Meats is a dream come true for Stephen and Anna Gill. The Mishawaka couple have dreamed of one day owning their own business. Little did they know the business they'd end up buying would be the former Carpenter Meats -- the meat market Stephen Gill's stepfather and mother started 65 years ago. Just three months after Carpenter Meats, 1711 Lincoln Way West, closed, Steve and Anna Gill stepped in and took over ownership of the store. They're planning to reopen the meat market today. Now DC Meats, named after Stephen's late stepfather, Dale Carpenter, is going back to its roots. "We've changed everything," Anna Gill said. "We're going to go back to the old-fashioned way of doing things ... the homemade recipes, homemade bacon -- we're doing our own hams, bologna." They also plan to have organic beef two days a week and smoked products such as jerky. After starting the business in 1941 by butchering hogs on their Shipshewana farm, Dale and Alberna Carpenter built slaughterhouses in downtown Shipshewana in 1955. From there, the couple bought a stand in 1964 at the Farmer's Market in South Bend. Looking for a more centralized location, the couple rented a building on Lincoln Way West in 1981 and eventually built at the structure's current site across the street in 1984. After Dale Carpenter died, Steve Gill's twin brother, Stan Gill, inherited the business in 1996. But the store was forced to close in February because its health permit expired.Stan Gill is now in Elkhart County Jail, facing charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The past six weeks have been busy ones for Stephen and Anna, who've been gutting, scrubbing, sweeping and tiling the former Carpenter Meats building to ensure an opening this Memorial Day weekend. On Thursday, the business passed an inspection by the St. Joseph County Health Department and received a permit to operate, said Rita Hooton, food services supervisor with the health department. For the time being, the new owners said, the business won't have a stand at the Farmer's Market and they won't sell to outside restaurants.Staff writer Yonika Willis: ywillis@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6556